Zeke was born at Capital Regional Medical Center in Jefferson City, Mo. on March 3, 2006.

Zeke and older brother Jayden survived a week and a half without mom and dad by staying half the time with Nanny and Pop and the other half with Meemaw and Pawpaw. They started doing ‘calendar time’ so mom could have fewer questions to answer about “What day is it?”

Zeke and Jayden got a baby sister. By this point …He would follow Jayden sneaking across the street to visit the neighbors without permission…scary for mom and dad! An addition of the backyard trampoline somewhat helped keep him near.

Zeke and the family moved to Columbia to a yard… with a fence. Lots of time spent watching PBS kids and more calendar time so he knew days of the week, months of the year and all his letters and numbers.

Pre-school + Baby brother. Lots of backyard sandbox time and play time in the cul-de-sac…also more trampoline time. We kept Zeke busy with reams of paper and drawing utensils. He would draw unique characters with names and creative powers. We found out later that they were Pokemon characters and their stats.

Independence Day in Seattle, WA for a family wedding. We visited the aquarium at the pier, rode a ferry tour around the sound, explored the science museum (and found a balloon tying artist) and enjoyed a flight with Uncle Kevin. Sightseeing at Snoqualmie Falls. Then Kindergarten started at home in the fall. Pokemon graphic novels during kindergarten flipped the switch for him to start reading!

Zeke started summer school at the local public school in anticipation of attending there in the fall. He attended 1st grade at Paxton-Keeley Elementary.

Mom and Dad would occasionally get to visit Zeke at school during lunch hour…and little bro/sis would get to play on the playground with him and his class during lunch recess.

We moved to Potosi in December. He started Mrs McCoy’s 3rd grade class at Potosi Elementary School just before Christmas break.

Mrs Avila, Mrs French and Mrs Schneiders 4th grade classes. Zeke joined the math team and placed at the local level.

5th grade classes with Mr Fisher and Mrs Greenlee; He succeeded in auditioning and qualifying for Select Choir. He also spent another year with the math team and advanced to the regional level.

6th grade with Mrs Buckley and Mrs Moyers; more math team where Zeke advanced to the state level. He also enjoyed select choir that met afterschool and performed at each grade level choir concert over the course of the year.

Seventh grade summer school got interesting when Zeke began staying after to join the summer training program for cross country. The high school coach had visited his PE classroom to recruit kids to join the team in preparation for the fall running season.

Zeke ran fall cross country, made the winter boys basketball team, and then the spring baseball team.

Academically, he joined the robotics class and competed in the VEX competition.

Zeke enrolled in summer school again so that he could make room in his schedule for choir. This school year began with another season of middle school cross country and boys basketball. Then when it came time to start training for spring sports, he decided to try out track as a distance runner instead of playing baseball. But we all know what happened to spring 2020 so Zeke’s track experience would have to wait.